On My Mac folder in favourites in finder

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Level 1

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On My Mac folder in favourites in finder

After installing Big Sur I have this folder in my favourites in finder. I cannot move files to it and I cannot create sub folders in it. If I right click on it I have the options to open or remove. If I choose open I get a popup that says: The alias “On My Mac” can’t be opened because the original item can’t be found.

There are three options to pick: OK or Fix Alias... or Delete Alias. The fix and delete do nothing and OK closes popup.

Now If I go back to the On My Mac folder and right click and those remove from sidebar, it will go away until I reboot and it comes back.

I would like to know what this folder is and how to remove it...Thanks

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 11.0

Posted on Nov 27, 2020 1:55 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

markwmsn

Level 6

15,011 points

Nov 28, 2020 8:57 PM in response to Bertrumcan

That seems to be where Big Sur exposes the "on-Mac" portion of the data containers for the "siloed" apps that often store data files on iCloud Drive, like Numbers and TextEdit. My MacBook Pro has eight folders in On My Mac, each named for an application. None includes any files, but if I store a file from one of those applications and select On My Mac, the file is stored there.

In previous systems, these folders we hidden away in ~/Library/Containers. his new Big Sur function exposes them, presumably in case you want to access them.

No idea why hiding them in the sidebar doesn't survive a reboot.

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Answer 2

Bertrumcan Author

Level 1

13 points

Nov 29, 2020 4:39 AM in response to markwmsn

Thanks for the reply, That makes sense because on my iPhone if I create a document I can save it to the similar folder called On My iPhone. But with this On My Mac folder I cannot save documents from Pages, Numbers or Keynote etc. If I go to save and select the folder On My Mac the save button is greyed out. And again I cannot create a new folder in it either.

However I did find an app folder (it is not pages, numbers etc. folder) in the On My Mac folder, If I choose that app folder I can then save my document to it but it is not practical to save my document in another apps folder.

I have found no way to a Pages, Numbers etc. folder to the On My Mac folder.

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Answer 3

markwmsn

Level 6

15,011 points

Dec 2, 2020 5:01 PM in response to Bertrumcan

I checked on my iMac, which hasn't been in service for as long as my MacBook Pro. The iMac has only one folder in "On My Mac": BBEdit - a third-party app. The folder is empty. I can force BBEdit to save into that folder, but only through the shortcut in the sidebar of the expanded save dialog.

Since Big Sur has to be prepared to run iOS app that run in sandboxes, this is probably a peek behind the curtains of how it will do that. The actual folder structure behind the scenes is more complicated than we are used to; this may be some of the machinery behind the curtain peeking out unintentionally.

Still no idea how to make it hide. Sorry.

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